


There's no crying in hockey

by gingersnapps



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, these are just scenes in the comic from jack's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 20:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16583462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingersnapps/pseuds/gingersnapps
Summary: 3 times Jack makes Bitty cry





	There's no crying in hockey

**1.**  

Jack stood in his skates, frozen in place, watching as Bittle curled in on himself after Jack had checked him, if it could even be called that. Really, Jack had barely brushed up against him, but the moment he came close enough to gently push him into the boards Bittle had dropped like a rock. His aversion to checking was more serious than Jack had realized. And- oh, God-was he _crying_?

“What in the deep-fried hell was that!?” shouted Bittle, and Jack could hear the tears in his voice. Jack had never been very good with emotions, neither expressing them nor reacting to them; especially not ones that included crying. Eventually, though, Bittle wiped his eyes and got up, and Jack skated toward him tentatively.

“Look, you’ve got good hands, you can see the ice well, and you’re a great skater.” All of those things were true, and Jack hoped they would soften the blow of his next sentence: “But you’ve got this stupid mental block about getting hit. If that’s the only thing holding you back, we’re going to get you over it. Trust me, okay?”

And, well. He knew Bittle didn’t have a lot of reason to trust him, especially after Jack had yelled at him during so many of their first practices. But Eric Bittle was like no one Jack had ever played with, and that put him on edge- even more than usual. He was smaller than any NCAA player Jack had ever seen, for one. But the fact that Bittle had started as a figure skater showed, and his skating was somehow both gracefully expressive and carefully calculated. He moved fast, and he was unpredictable on the ice.

And now he was looking at Jack with determination in his eyes as he lined himself up with the boards. There was something else there too, though- something that looked a little bit like anger. Whether it was directed at Jack or at himself, Jack didn’t know. And, really, it didn’t matter; anger was something he could work with.

 

 **2.**  

He was out. Done. His last game at Samwell was a loss, and he felt it more deeply than any loss he’d ever experienced. He’d worked for it, given it everything he had, and it hadn’t been enough. Jack didn’t cry often, but he didn’t try to hold back his tears now. He was by himself, anyway.

That is, until he wasn’t. He felt the presence of someone behind him, and turned his face to see who it was (though, really, he already knew). Bitty walked to sit next to him, tears in his eyes, and wrapped his arms around Jack, resting his cheek against his shoulder. Jack realized that while he’d mostly been thinking about himself when he’d left the locker room, dwelling on his own inadequacy as a player and as captain, Bitty had been thinking about him.

Bitty was good at that: at putting others first. At making them feel at-ease and supported. At knowing when they needed space and when they needed to be comforted. Over the time they’d known each other, he’d done all of those things for Jack. It made him want to cry harder, knowing how badly he’d let Bitty down- let his whole team down. But he knew what Bitty would say if he could hear what Jack was thinking, so instead of letting himself wallow any longer, he took a shaky breath and said “We’d better head back to the Haus, Bittle. The boys will be wondering where we are.”

Bitty unwound his arms from Jack’s shoulders, and Jack immediately missed their soothing weight. Bitty sniffled, and when he spoke his voice was quiet and raw: “Jack? You’re a really great captain.”

Maybe Bitty _could_ read his thoughts.

**3.**

When Lardo said Bitty was going to cry when he saw the new oven, Jack hadn’t doubted it for a second. Normally, he hates seeing Bitty cry. In the last two years, Jack has seen him wipe his eyes while he rolled dough out after a particularly hard test. He’s seen him try to hold in his tears while they watched a World War II documentary on Jack’s laptop. He’s seen him break down after more than a few bad games. It always tugs at Jack’s heartstrings to see Bitty’s huge brown eyes fill up with tears, to watch his chin tremble before they fall.

Right now, though, Bitty’s happy crying has him smiling uncontrollably. Jack suspects Bitty knows what he's going to see when they bring him into the kitchen, Lardo’s hands covering his eyes. They all hold their breath and wait for his reaction when she removes them. And Bitty may not be surprised, but he certainly looks overwhelmed. He swallows, biting his lip. He looks back at his team, wet eyes shifting around the room until they lock with Jack’s. “Happy birthday, Bits,” Jack says.

After he escapes the giant group hug/tackle that ensues, Bitty, still overwhelmed, wraps his arms around Jack’s waist and sticks his face right into the front of Jack’s shirt, undoubtedly covering it in his snot and tears. Still, Jack can’t bring himself to chirp him. He just puts his own arm around his shoulder, a little bit honored to be the person Bitty clings to while he hides his face from the rest of the team. Jack bends down to whisper in his ear: “Did you really think I forgot your birthday?” Bitty removes his face from where it’s glued to Jack’s chest, just enough to tilt his head up and look at Jack. His eyes are still shining, and his cheeks are flushed, but he’s wearing a shy little smile that Jack kind of wants to burn into his memory.

“I can’t believe ya’ll,” Bitty tells him.

“We owed you for all the food you’ve made us. And really, the guys will benefit plenty from having a new oven. Imagine what kind of terrible, store-bought desserts they would be forced to eat if they didn’t have your pies.” Bitty laughs a little, and sticks his face back into Jack’s shirt. But Jack can feel him smiling against his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> So short, so boring. But I kinda just wanted to imagine what Jack might've been thinking during these scenes. Thanks for reading!


End file.
